Around 57 per cent students of class 10 passed the board exam conducted by PSEB, the results of which were declared yesterday. (PTI)

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today expressed dismay over the “poor” results of class 10 exams conducted by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), in which over 40 per cent of the students failed. Taking a serious note of the poor performance of students, he issued strict instructions to Education Minister Aruna Chaudhary to prepare a blueprint for raising the standards of learning in the state. The chief minister also directed the finance department to make all necessary funds available to the education department for undertaking urgent measures to improve the quality of education and infrastructure in government schools, an official spokesperson said here.

Around 57 per cent students of class 10 passed the board exam conducted by PSEB, the results of which were declared yesterday. A total of 3.30 lakh students had appeared in the examination, of which 1.90 lakh students passed the exam, while 45,734 students failed and 94,271 students got reappear.

Amarinder said he was very disturbed at the “deteriorating standards of education” in Punjab, as a result of which “our children are falling by the wayside in the race for good jobs and career growth, with most of them even failing to clear the necessary exams for getting into the armed forces.” “The fact that only 24 students from government schools had made it to the merit list is a serious cause for concern,” he said while pinning the responsibility for the poor performance on the education department.

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The Congress leader had earlier ordered several sweeping policy changes to raise the bar of education in the state. At a review meeting of the education department earlier this month, he had approved a policy for online transfer of government teachers from the next academic session, on lines of a similar system in several other states, including neighbouring Haryana.

The chief minister had also asked the Principal Secretary Finance to make a special provision in the forthcoming budget to ensure proper infrastructure in terms of electricity, furniture, toilets and playgrounds in all government schools in the state. He had directed the Additional Chief Secretary (School Education) to work out the estimated expenditure for raising the necessary demand with the finance department in this regard.

Amarinder reiterated his earlier directives on inclusion of foreign languages in the school curriculum to enable gainful employment of students not just within the country but globally too. He once again stressed the upgradation of English teaching in schools to empower students to meet global communication needs.